Winning sweepstakes can be a lot of fun. (In Canada, they are called contests. Pretty much exactly the same thing :)). My mother gets excited every time she hears the doorbell ring, and in fact some of our telephone conversations consist of her telling me what to watch for in the mail (in case she’s won something for me), or what her latest or greatest prizes have been. I admit, at first I was a bit skeptical, but I started to realize it was a bit of fun when she was giving me gift certificates for free meals, sharing a gift card for groceries, or just winning some very cool prizes such as exclusive concert tickets.

That being said, there are a few quick and easy strategies you can employ to help increase your chances of winning, and winning more often.

1. Winning Sweepstakes is a number’s game

The more you enter, and more often, the better your chances of winning. Simply put, if only two people enter a sweeps, then you have a one in two chance of winning. Or, in other words, a 50% chance of winning. If 10,000 people enter, and you only have one entry in 10,000. It’s still possible for you to win, but less likely.

Likewise, the number of sweepstakes you enter on a regular basis plays a big part. If you only enter one sweepstakes in a month, then it is either win or lose. But, if you enter 300 sweepstakes/month that say have 100 entries each, then you are much more likely to win something, or maybe even a few prizes.

From my experience from talking with people that successfully enter sweepstakes, generally speaking as a minimum they will enter at least 50 different sweepstakes per day. If they want to really increase their chances, they will enter usually at least 250-300/day.

2. If you know what you want, ‘hard to enter’ sweepstakes also give you a good chance

There are some companies that make it difficult for people to enter sweepstakes, such as implementing captchas, having to create a user account, having to fill in a survey, etc, etc, before you can enter. (Personally, I feel those companies are making a mistake, because they are ‘limiting’ the exposure of the sweepstakes, when the goal is to get as many people to know about the company & promotion as possible). However, the good news for you is that the odds are very good, simply because not that many people enter.

For example, I have seen some ‘Video’ Sweepstakes that required the user to submit a funny video, with a prize pool of $250,000. For “$250,000”, there literally were only about 700 videos after extensive promotion, and I believe it was a couple months time. (I know, because I entered it :)). The odds are exceptionally good. Likewise, sweepstakes that require captchas or surveys also give you very good chances to win prizes because not that many people want to enter, because it is too much work.

Now – why do I say that you need to ‘know’ what you want in this case? It is because these types of sweepstakes will take you a longer time to enter. Sometimes 10-15 minutes. But if you are focused, and focus on those sweepstakes alone, then since you only have so much time in a day, you have a very good chance of winning the prizes you want.

3. Consistency is important

For example, daily sweepstakes are great, and offer some wonderful prizes, but you need to enter daily in order to increase your chances. You need to enter on a regular basis to see results. Just like you didn’t give up trying to learn how to ride a bike after the first try when you were a child, you shouldn’t give up after only one or two sweepstakes. Consistency is important. (And, as an aside, Sweepstakes Ninja helps you keep that consistency with the push of a button!)

4. Tell your friends about your prize winnings and the company that sponsored them!

While naturally, you would probably do that anyways, it is important to remember to mention the company. Why? And how does that help your chances? Well – companies offer sweepstakes because in the long run, they want to introduce great products & services to people. One way of doing this is through “word of mouth” advertising, aka, through sweepstakes. If they get ‘feedback’ that they had a very successful promotion (i.e., lots of people talked about their company, ideally such that they ended up getting more sales because of it, from people who wanted to purchase from them) — then they are much more likely to offer those types of sweepstakes in the future, or even more. And, of course if there are more sweepstakes — then that means you have more chances to win.

5. Smile, have fun, and have patience!

Entering sweepstakes should be fun! It is fun imagining what great or amazing prizes you could win, and of course when you do win, it is even more of a great feeling! And of course, patience is important. This is not like a ‘job’ where you know you will be getting a steady paycheck every two weeks. No. This is a sweepstakes. Sometimes you need to wait at least two or three months before seeing results. Simply because, the sweepstakes may take a month before it is ended, and then may take another 2-4 weeks to contact people for prizes, and awarding them.

You want to keep doing it on a consistent basis, because then when you win, you will continue to have a very good chance of winning. If you only do it once or twice, (and let’s say you won three months later), then you would need to start all over and most likely wait another 2-3 months before seeing a prize!

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Johnathan runs Sweepstakes Ninja. Learn how you can increase your chances of winning prizes significantly, in minutes, by simply pushing a button. Sweepstakes Ninja is a great sweepstakes organizer & form filler that will make your life much easier!